Hand-lift for coffins



N0 Model.)

W. H. POPE. HAND LIFT FOR GOFFINS.

,134. Patented Sept. 18, 1894.

U ITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. POPE, OF NEWBURG, NEW YORK.

HAN D-LIFT FOR COFFINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 526,134, dated September 18, 1894.

Application filed April 26, 1894.

To whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. POPE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newburg, in the county of Orange and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand-Lifts for Coffins;

, and I do declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in undertakers implements, designed more especially for use in taking a casket up or down a stairway after the placing of a body therein, and to enable the doing of the same with convenience and ease, and to these ends the invention consists of a hand-bar having connected thereto by suitable means keys or securing devices, adapted to engage with previously prepared openings or slots in the bottom of the casket, substantially as hereinafter more fully disclosed and specifically pointed out in the claim. i

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved undertakers implement. Fig. 2 is a view showing the same applied for use. Fig. 3 is a broken, inverted View of a casket showing the openings or slots in the bottom receiving the fastenings or keys of the implement. Fig. 4 is a detailed section thereof.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a suitable hand-bar 1 adapted in length to be conveniently grasped by two persons, and to this hand-bar, I attach preferably two straps 2, 2, formed with loops at their inner ends to receive said hand-bar, in turn provided with circumferential recesses near its ends to sink said loops flush with the surface of said bar, to prevent endwise or lateral displacement of said straps.

The opposite ends of the straps 2, 2, are pro- Serial No. 509,123- (No model.)

vided with fastenings or keys 3, 3, preferably T shape, with their inner ends passing through and secured in apertures in plates 3, and through rectangular openings or slots 3 also in said plates pass looped portions of the straps.

The keys or fastenings 3, 3, have their outer end cross pieces or arms adapted to engage longitudinal slots or openings 4, 4, produced in the bottom of the casket, one near each side, at each end thereof, said slots or openings passing clear through said bottom and covered, upon the inside of the casket, with cap-plates 5, 5. The keys are inserted into said slots edgewise, and after insertion, are brought to their normal position, thus disposing their cross pieces or arms transversely of said slots and locking them in place, to permit the carrying of the casket by the hand bar and straps, as is especially convenient in taking the casket down or up a stairway, besides easier than in the old way by the use of the unaided hands,

. Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The herein described undertakers implement, consisting in the combination of the hand-bar 1, the looped straps 2, 2, embracing the opposite ends of 'the hand-bar, plates 3 slotted to receive the straps 2, 2, andT-shaped keys or fastenings passing through apertures in the plates 3 and extending perpendicularly to said plates and adapted to engage openings in a casket, as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. POPE.

- Witnesses:

L. S. STERRIT, W. W. TERWILLIGER. 

